Expand BEACH Act grant eligibility to include identifying sources of contamination and testing shallow recreational waters adjacent to beaches.

It also expands the eligible testing locations to include shallow recreational waters adjacent to beaches where children and the elderly typically play and swim, and are therefore more at risk of contamination.

Joyce’s bill would broaden BEACH Act activities to cover source identification and additional testing locations.

Joyce Bills to Conserve the Great Lakes Pass House
primary · press_release · model gpt-5.4-mini

EPA's current Beach Grants page says BEACH Act grants go to eligible states, territories, and Tribes with coastal recreational waters adjacent to beaches, EPA-approved numeric water-quality standards, and the required performance criteria for monitoring and notification.

This shows the program's current eligibility structure remains tied to existing coastal recreational waters and performance criteria, with no official sign in the lookback window of an expanded eligibility category for contamination-source identification or shallow-water testing.

unresolved unknown

Beach Grants | US EPA
secondary · model gpt-5.4-mini · confidence 94%

EPA's beach guidance tells grantees to assess potential sources of fecal contamination and, for sampling, use shallow depths from knee to waist depth, including about 0.3 meter below the surface.

This partially overlaps with the promise's substantive goals because EPA guidance already covers contamination-source assessment and shallow-water sampling practices, but it does not show a new grant-eligibility expansion being enacted.

partial unknown

National Beach Guidance and Required Performance Criteria for Grants, 2014 Edition | US EPA
secondary · model gpt-5.4-mini · confidence 91%